“You seem rather moody this morning,” Alan said to his wife, Melissa. “Is it that time of the month again?” he joked.
“Don’t test me, Alan. Not today” Melissa snapped. “With all that’s going on, I don’t know that I can ever escape this feeling of dread that is constantly hanging over my head. I do know how you can be so blasé about how he’s destroying our nation.”
“Hey,” Alan objected, “Please don’t construe that just because I’m easygoing means I can’t see that we need to liberate our country from his tyranny.But just remember, Melissa, that I am not the enemy. He and his enablers are, and we must do everything we can to get them out of office this November.”
Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (moody), Jibber Jabber (test), The Daily Spur (escape), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (construe), Ragtag Daily Prompt (easygoing), and Your Daily Word Prompt (liberate).
It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
I almost wasn’t going to do a Who Won the Week post this week because these are very dark days in America. Consider what is going on in Portland, Oregon, where federal agents have been employing violent and constitutionally dubious tactics against protesters, including firing “less-than-lethal” munitions into crowds, and driving around the city in unmarked vans to yank protesters off the streets. Yes, in the United States of America, U.S. citizens are being kidnapped and held by agents of the United States government. WTF?
But in the midst of what is happening to this once great country, there was one item that caught my attention that I thought was positive. So this week I am declaring that the Department of Defense, colloquially referred time as “the Pentagon,” won the week.
I know you’re thinking that Fandango has lost his mind. Or that this is some kinda sick joke. But I’m sane and serious and here’s why I chose the Pentagon as this week’s winner.
As you probably know, Donald Trump has made no secret of his opposition to banning the Confederate flag, which he considers to be an important symbol of American history and culture. He has been critical of NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag, saying he views flying the flag as “freedom of speech.”
So it was a bit of a surprise this week when the Secretary of Defense and Trump appointee Mark Esper announced that the Pentagon unveiled a new policy that effectively bans the display of the Confederate flag — without actually naming it — at American military bases.
The official language simply lists the types of flags that are allowed to be displayed, including the American flag, the flags of the U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, military flags, and those of America’s allies.
“The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols,” Esper wrote in the memo.
Finally there are some — too few, but some — in the Trump Administration who seem willing to stand up to Donald Trump. It’s about fucking time.
Now it’s your turn, folks. Who (or what) do you think won the week?
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim Adams is apparently wanting go out to the park for a picnic, giving us the words “Baking,” “Bread,” “Cake,” “Pie,” and even “Picnic.” The song that immediately popped into my head was the Richard Harris rendition of Jimmy Web’s “MacArthur Park,” which is probably most recognized for the lyric, “Someone left a cake out in the rain.”
“MacArthur Park was written and composed by American songwriter, composer, and singer Jimmy Webb and was first recorded in 1968 by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
MacArthur Park is a real park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jimmy Webb was challenged by music producer Bones Howe to write and compose a classically structured song with several movements that could be played on the radio. The song Webb wrote begins as a poem about love, then moves into a lover’s lament.
The love affair Webb wrote about was with Suzy Horton. Webb explained that, “MacArthur Park was where we met for lunch and paddleboat rides and feeding the ducks.” But Suzy left him for another man. When he heard she was getting married in MacArthur Park, he was broken hearted. He went to the wedding and, not wanting to be seen, hid in a gardener’s shed. As the open-air ceremony was taking place, it started to pour and the rain was running down the shed window, which made the wedding cake look as if it was melting.
Of the song, Webb said, “It’s clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that. Sure, it may be far out there, and a bit incomprehensible, but I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day.”
Here are the lyrics for “MacArthur Park.”
Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance
Between the parted pages and were p
ressed
In love’s hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants
MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh no!
I recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground around your knees
The birds, like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing checkers by the trees
MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh no!
There will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You’ll still be the one
I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky
And after all the loves of my life
Oh, after all the loves of my life
I’ll be thinking of you
And wondering why
MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh no!
Welcome to July 19, 2020 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).
Today’s word is “construe.”
Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.
Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.
And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.
But just remember, Melissa, that I am not the enemy. He and his enablers are, and we must do everything we can to get them out of office this November.”
It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
As you probably know, Donald Trump has made no secret of his opposition to banning the Confederate flag, which he considers to be an important symbol of American history and culture. He has been critical of NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag, saying he views flying the flag as “freedom of speech.”
Welcome to July 19, 2020 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
This, That, and the Other 